Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-07

AAON liti 80 i'f-- = tfN-A-tENt- nv AkstAl
thought you'd come, but the letter was
written in ease YOU should not
The letter which Phil Deering had
handed his sister ran thus:
'sWhen you read this I shall De many miles
away. / was az inadVcftclt listener to your
conversation yesterday evening, which re-
vealed more % me than even You yourself are
conscious OF. perhaps, To associate with you
daily with suspicion in my neart would make
life torture to us both. Therefore | go
away, feeling that this Is most what you de-
sire, and wishing only TO conform 10 what
would be for your happiness. You have what
your ambition craVcd-John Stuart's fortune
and the protection of his name. II is beiiey-
ing that his life can be best spent looking to
your happiness with the breadth Of the States
between us that go. | believe that ] know
you too well to fear to have the guarding of
my good old name from n faint breath OF
scandal in your keeping. | enjoin that you
so at once to Shpckoe where l. alas. had
BELTS john Stuart's wife. You win ind at
your bankers carte-blanch to draw as YOU
wish. ! shall write you regularly, and require
OF you similar recognition of our relations.
JOPN STUART
'P. S.--Let rot thought of duty. or less con.
VenauceS. induce YOU To seek to follow me. If
your inclination had ever family prompted
thereto you would have gone with me and
this would have been burned undeiivered
wish no unwilling allegiance. You owe me
nothing. | have, as yOu said yesterday, a
AhAslINoS IVA 1hbNhO' tth-t va u SstttSItu
ambition
The months rolled by-graduaily
the wonder of Peream spent itself in
vain inaginings and the strange alb
sence of Nj. Stuart ceased to be the
constant topic. After the first few
months it was rarely mentioned to his
wife, whose life al Shock0e was a
ceaseless round OF gayety. which Pc
ream concluded rather questionable
taste in view of her husbands pro-
longed absence. She was usually gay
and apparently careless when the mat
ter was mentioned, but rather avoided,
explanations, dubbed herself the grass
widow, but generally managed to men
ton items of news from her husbands
letters when friends whose Judgment
she might value called
These letters came regularly. Never
personally, never remotely limiting at
his inner self, but filled with charming
accounts of western scenes and life,
odd characters and incidents of the
mining world, and Isabel gradually
realized that her husband. whom she
had seemed scarcely to know, was I'M
usually clever, endowed with brill
liant imagination and very caustic wit.
He made no reference to their odd
relations 10 one another beyond that
implied in exacting his weekly letter:
nor did he remotely hint at his ever
returning to Percam.
Isabel had spent the winter amid the
gayeties of st. Louis and Washington
and returned home to find Robert
Stanope in Peream.
Il left charming violet when |
went away" he said, CALAMITY, lean
ing over the doorway of Mrs. Stuart's
handsome carriage-and offering its
occupant the hand from which he had
just drawn a dainty glove-.'a charm
ing violet but the fairies have trans
formed it to a. magnificent lily. Let
me claim an old friends privilege,
Mrs. Stuart, and say that you are
handsomer than ever"
The weeks flew by. Robert Stanope
was daily visitor at Shockoe. He
rode with its mistress or her guests,
rowcd them on the river, devised
means of entertaining for her, was
ever ready with attentions, and some
times vaguely limited mt the hard fate
which had debaIred him from com
peting for the prize that alone could
have made life worth living, which
Isabel was accustomed to receive with
a jest or comment on his lazy life and
habits, and wonder why she had so
completely, even before his return,
outgrown what she now denominated
her ''penchant for Robert Stanope.
The new years ball was ut its
height, and very beautiful Isabel Stu
art looked. in her long shinnnering
Satin gown, her only ornament a
medallion, in diamonds which were
the old Stuart heir-looms. She was
resting in acorncr OF the conservatory,
watching the distant dancing, and her
companion was absorbed with her
beauty. AT length he said:
Isabel, | am going away to-mor-
row; do YOU know what it feels like to
say good-by toto all that is dearest
to one?"
Il think that like the poor, you
have always with YOU Isabel re-
piled. carelessly turning her head
aside.
Don't jest eternally, Isabel" Rob-
ert Stanope cried, impatiently. Il
wish YOU to speak earnestly, and l
want YOU to listen
''You were testing then about GO
ing?" she said, laughing, enjoying his
nl-humor.
Would you care to know that l
was?'' Robert Stanope. asked, tender
".
'Why should cnrr.?- You are use
full to me in entertaining my guests,